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Sunday, December 5, 2021

Setting the Mood

     The beginning mood in a piece of writing could be compared with the background music you hear at the start of a movie. That music--whether ominous, offbeat, or cheerful--gives you a pretty accurate idea of what kind of movie you'll be watching.

     Many books begin with a description of a place that sets the mood for what is to follow. A lead like this can be a sly way of introducing one of the themes in a book. [Truman Capote, for example, sets the mood In Cold Blood by describing rural Kansas, the site of the 1959 Clutter family murders.]

Ralph Fletcher, Live Writing, 1999

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